so was wondering if anyone could recommend some ceiling/wall speakers setup and someone who can install them for a new house?

house wont be ready for another couple of months, but trying to sort out pricing now.

its a big room, roughly 4.5m x 4.5m, but it opens up completely to the dinning area / other living space (but sitting area for lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m). i have the plans i can put up if that would help....

so far I've only heard from one person I've emailed, and theyve just quote speakers, not installation.

but alas, I have no idea when it comes to speakers, the size / power I'll need.

Want to get the wiring and setup down when walls are up, but dont mind spending a little less now on cheaper speakers and upgrading later, since then all the wiring etc will be done and easy to upgrade them.

are the ones from jbhifi ok, do they provide a good estimate on price?

In all seriousness - don't go for the cheapest in-ceilings or in wall speakers you can find. Listen to them first. Once you cut holes, it's very, very hard to go back. Especially if you realise that the sound of in-walls / in-ceilings simply doesn't suit your tastes.

I strongly recommend going into an audio specialist and demo'ing kit... I've had the misfortune of having people say to me 'we picked up some cheap in-walls a while ago, and they're beyond terrible. Can you help us fix it?" Often, the answer is... sorry, you've got some ruddy great holes / odd holes in your home now and things aren't as straight forward as they should be.

It's not very well known but Hills (Alarms and the like) do a range of speakers for their home hub stuff. Can't say I'm that keen on the home hub gear, but my lounge is currently kitted out with their in wall rectangular 8" kevlar units. You can probably get these via a local electrical wholesaler, but let me know if you can't and I'll sort some way for you if you're keen.

DO make sure you get a mic audio setup receiver whichever way you go, as these things (wall speakers in general) are not always that linear out of the box. As Dunnersfella says, it's way way better if you can demo them first, but the location will have some impact of course too, so you can't bring them home to trial at your place.

If you're building from scratch, then think about where you want them, as studs and dwangs are not your friend for this sort of thing. Pack some filling in there too whilst you're at it, wall wise that is. Ceiling wise I know of people installing 10L paint buckets over the top as a bit of and enclosure in the ceiling too.

For the sort of money, you could go with a better known brand like Polk, JBL or Klipsch... The Klipsch in-ceilings are a personal favourite for home theatre setups as the slightly higher spec'd units have moveable drivers and tweeters, meaning you can avoid radiating half the sound backwards into your walls...

Jaxson: It's not very well known but Hills (Alarms and the like) do a range of speakers for their home hub stuff. Can't say I'm that keen on the home hub gear, but my lounge is currently kitted out with their in wall rectangular 8" kevlar units. You can probably get these via a local electrical wholesaler, but let me know if you can't and I'll sort some way for you if you're keen.

thanks Jaxson, do you have any idea on how much 5 speakers would cost, 2x ceiling surround, 2x front in wall and 1x centre in wall?

Dunnersfella: For the sort of money, you could go with a better known brand like Polk, JBL or Klipsch... The Klipsch in-ceilings are a personal favourite for home theatre setups as the slightly higher spec'd units have moveable drivers and tweeters, meaning you can avoid radiating half the sound backwards into your walls...

http://soundgroup.co.nz/content/cdt-2650-c-ii

thanks Dunnersfella, do you now how much any of these would cost, couldnt find a price for them.

hoping to get the 5 speakers and installation for less than $1500, but if thats not possible i'll probably put it off until later.

thanks Jaxson, do you have any idea on how much 5 speakers would cost, 2x ceiling surround, 2x front in wall and 1x centre in wall?

hoping to get the 5 speakers and installation for less than $1500, but if thats not possible i'll probably put it off until later.

TIA

Quote from 2 years ago was retail of $275 for a pair of 8" Rectangular units and $154 for the Centre Speaker. So all up that's $700 ish retail for two fronts, two rears and the centre. (I used the same size as my rears).

Now I'm not saying they are amazing, lets make that clear up front. But, if you're after some wall speakers, that will do (especially if you're prepared to let your receiver modify the sound to compensate for non linear response), then I think they're a good buy. As Dunnersfella says, you could do better with a more well known brand.

Oh and I have a separate sub for the low end as I don't think you want to get into a wall mounted sub situation... Also I think that (for home theatre) with cheaper wall mounted speakers you're mainly reproducing the equivalent of a satellite speaker system. Things change as you spend more money on better gear, but initially you can aim to reproduce that, so often wall mounting is about looks as much as anything. It totally locks you to that room orientation, but that's possibly more common now if you go to all the bother of wall mounting your TV.

In my case I needed something in a new smaller house and had a very little budget. These worked perfectly well for the criteria I had at the time. I miss my better gear for sure, but with little kids I now have no cables anywhere and no speakers intruding into our smaller lounge room. And I use headphones more now.

reven: cheers for that Jaxson, did you order them from that website, or did you get them from a local distributor?

Ordered through an alarm contractor at work as Hills do security systems as well as a range of other random stuff. Find anyone with a Hills account/maybe even a local electrical wholesaler and you should get a decent discount off retail.

Pm'd you with a contact that i used to get some Polk ceiling speakers when i went through the process that you are going through.

I recommend spending a bit more if you can rather than settling for "basic" speakers, depending on what you are going to drive them with as many of them only have low power ratings eg 20W RMS continuous and won't handle a 100W RMS amp

The downside of the Klipsch, is you could probably pick up a 5.1 set (including a sub) for $1500... But installation will cost you on top of that. Running cables is pretty easy for your sparky to do, but the actual install of ceiling speakers is / can be quite finicky. Especially when it comes down to getting them in the PERFECT spot so that everything is symmetrical . Personally, I'd spend the money on the Klipsch (Polk make some nice speakers for outside duties) but for the inside of a home, I'd go with something I can angle towards the listening position. Well at least for the front 3 speakers, the 2 rear speakers are of little consequence in relationship to the front speaker performance.

Dunnersfella: The downside of the Klipsch, is you could probably pick up a 5.1 set (including a sub) for $1500... But installation will cost you on top of that. Running cables is pretty easy for your sparky to do, but the actual install of ceiling speakers is / can be quite finicky. Especially when it comes down to getting them in the PERFECT spot so that everything is symmetrical . Personally, I'd spend the money on the Klipsch (Polk make some nice speakers for outside duties) but for the inside of a home, I'd go with something I can angle towards the listening position. Well at least for the front 3 speakers, the 2 rear speakers are of little consequence in relationship to the front speaker performance.

only place I found to sell Klipsch are soundgroup.co.nz, ive emailed them, but the dont have prices on their website. I really have no idea when it comes to speakers, so not sure which models to get.

Also for a centre, do u just rotate a normal wall speaker 90 degrees? they only seem to have upright wall speakers.